Carles Pérez, expert in family therapy: "The demand for couple and family therapy has increased thanks to the fact that society now knows that there are specialized professionals".

The symposium, which brought together professionals from the clinical and therapeutic field with researchers and academics, highlighted the need to strengthen the links between research and professional internship . In this sense, one of the main aims of the congress, as pointed out by Carles Pérez, president of the association for the Study and research in Family and Couple Therapy (AEI+DTF) and Full Professor emeritus at the Universitat Ramon Llull in Barcelona, was precisely to unite clinical internship with research: "There is a clear dissociation between what academic researchers are interested in and what clinicians need. It is necessary to integrate the two visions, and this is one of the objectives of our association". The congress , 'Advances in research in family and couples therapy: integrating research and clinical internship ', was organized by the Institute for Culture and Society (ICS), the AEI+DTF and the Society for Psychotherapy Research (SPR).

Professor Perez highlighted the core value of the family as an environment for emotional and social development . "The family is fundamental for the growth and development of children. If it fails to contain the anxieties of its members, the most vulnerable will suffer serious consequences, such as mental disorders or addictions," he confirmed. However, he regretted that "neither the administrations nor the managers are committed to promoting research in the family field", despite its direct impact on public health. He explained that, with few exceptions, family care programs are 'underfunded' in Europe. In addition, he also warned of the danger of identifying the family with political positions: "Progressive political forces have allowed themselves to be taken away from the family... if someone defends family policies, they are immediately suspected of being reactionary".

On the other hand, although it does not usually have strong institutional support, he stressed that the growth in demand for family therapy in recent years is due, among other causes, to the fact that the family is increasingly vulnerable and trust is placed in clinical professionals: "Demand has increased thanks to the knowledge of society in general, which , when faced with a family difficulty, knows that there are professionals specialized in helping couples and families".

Finally, he claimed the role of the AEI+DTF as an interdisciplinary meeting point. "The goal of the association is to offer a space to all those mental health professionals interested in couple and family therapy, and to all researchers in the field, to promote and develop the theoretical-practical exchange experiences accumulated in this discipline," he said. Even so, he insisted that the greatest challenge to promote therapy and research in this field is to achieve greater integration between researchers and clinicians. In this line, he advocated strengthening common spaces such as the AEI+DTF that favor this meeting.